Monday, April 5, 2010

Basically this dish is made only with Bittergourd. But if you want a richer taste to go along with the bittergourd, potato can be added. I always add potato to this curry because its become a hit with my husband. He loves the caramelized well done flavor of potato and bittergourd combo in this curry. Water is a strict no-no in such curries as it can make the curry mushy.

I make this to go with hot rice, dal, rice soup (the water in which the rice is cooked), and some homemade crisps (these are called vattal in malayalam , mostly the ones I eat are made by my mom, she makes these from so many varieties of veggies, such as okra, cluster beans, etc..)...it tastes heavenly and the term Comfort Food stands out in such dishes :)

Ingredients:

Bittergourd - 2

Potato - 2

Green chilli slit - 3

Salt

Oil - 1 teaspoon

Mustard seeds - 1 - 2 teaspoon

Method

Slice the bitter gourd into small long thin slices, each slice about a little smaller than your tiny finger

Slice the potato the same way

In a hot pan, add oil, reduce heat and add mustard seeds and green chilli, saute until the green chillies get small white patches (meaniing they are fried a little), then add the bittergourd and potato.

Turn up the heat to medium and give everything a stir.

Add a little salt (not the amount you require at this point as its sometimes better in such cases to add the salt towards the end of the curry), so that it helps the water in the vegetables to ooze out and help the cooking process without any additional water. Give it a stir.

Then keeping the fire at medium-low cover the pan and let it cook until the vegetables are almost cooked (especially the potato). In between the cooking time, stir the pan one or two times to avoid any food to stick to the bottom of the pan, also check for salt, when the veggies are getting to almost cooked stage, this helps adding the right amount of salt.

When the veggies are cooked, turn the heat to medium-high and give it a stir. After a minute, stir again and if you find that the potatoes are a bit caramelized (some of the bittergourds also will be caramelized), switch off the heat, give a final stir to the veggies and put back the lid.